Four Candles for Garringo (1971) User Reviews (3)

Watch Ironically

[rmahaney4 · 4/10 · 28 June 2009]

I've seen quite a few spaghetti westerns and can usually find something interesting in them; genre movies are improvisational. They must deliver a familiar formula, images, and music while at the same time altering the performance enough to make it interesting – they need to be different, but not too different. Because over 500 westerns were made in Italy and Spain the 1960s and 1970s and the prescription of "intellectual property rights" was not exactly observed, the mutation rate and variation was incredible. They almost have to be spoken of in Darwinian terms: a Cincecitta film cycle (western, peplum, giallo, etc) were like the Pre-Cambrian explosion. Some were very good and others were like Un colt por cuatro cirios (Four Candles For My Colt) – just nutty.

A gang holds up a tax shipment of gold. That night, when celebrating, Farley steals the gold, but is found dead the next morning. The gang and the sheriff (Woods) believe that Rogers and Farley's wife conspired to steal the loot and run off together. The sheriff stands between the gang and Rogers while investigating the robbery and murder. Hangings, gunfights, beatings and other mayhem ensue.

Not as quite as badly made as some other late spaghetti westerns which are amateurish (though there were some high quality productions still, like the later Keoma or Four of the Apocalypse), this movie is simply chaotic. There are elements of giallo, mystery, Gothic western or hard-bitten spaghetti mixed into a film that could not decide if it wanted to be a brutal vicious Italian western or a comedy western. All of this is wrapped in a sleazy package that actually may recommend the movie to fans of "trash cinema." The movie can't quite make up its mind whether misogyny and (threatened) rape is funny or not.

Based on a novel, the screenwriters seem to have been doing whatever they could to fill the running time. The plot bounces around the Italian countryside like a pinball. Italian westerns have a tendency to be episodic in structure, as in Sabata (1970) or The Big Gundown (1967). Death Sentence (1968) used this structure to incredible effect. However, in this movie it simply leads to incoherence. The last 15-20 minutes of the movie appear to have been an afterthought tacked on simply to pad the running length.

In other words, this movie emptily goes through the motions at a frantic pace - but it really rushes nowhere.

This cut-and-paste approach makes the movie entertainingly bad but does not allow for the usual subtexts and undercurrents to develop that can make these movies.

The opening scenes, a stage robbery, were actually fairly well-done in a no-budget sort of way. Camera angles and editing are interesting. There is gunfight in a bar which is also well-executed. Though there are some of the static staging that is common in later eurowesterns, presumably to cut down on cost, this movie is much more dynamic than many of its contemporaries. Though it is far from good, it is the sort of movie that you can watch ironically, mock the insanity, and have a good time (if you are into that sort of thing).

Most of Ignacio F. Iquino's credits were as writer, though he did direct a number of fairly undistinguished westerns during the western boom. His best directorial effort was the very entertaining God in Heaven. . .Arizona on Earth with Peter Lee Lawerence. He was involved in writing the interesting El Puro.

Robert Woods was one of the more popular leading men in the genre, starring in the enjoyable if wacky Starblack and the grimy, brutal My Name Is Pecos.

Maria Martin was also in the classic Sergio Corbucci western The Hellbenders (1966).

Antonio Rameriz aka Lou Carrigan, who wrote the novel that this was based on, also wrote the novels on which several other euro-westerns were based on including 20 Steps to Death and Stagecoach of the Condemmned.

Top spaghetti western list http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849907 Average SWs http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849889 For fanatics only (bottom of the barrel) http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849890

Inferior Spaghetti/Paella/Butifarra Western shot in Spain with two usual genre stars : Robert Woods and Chris Huerta

[ma-cortes · 3/10 · 21 February 2017]

Below average Tortilla or Gazpacho Western with plenty of action , crossfire , brawls , double-crosses , twists and loads of shots . A gang led Oswald (Cris Huerta) holds up a shipment of gold . That night , when the hoodlums are celebrating it , Farley (Antonio Molino Rojo) steals the cash . After that , he get escaped , being pursued by the Oswalds's henchmen . Meanwhile , Rogers (Mariano Vidal Molina) is accused as robbing's accomplice . Later on , the next morning , Farley is found dead nearly his house where lives his wife Beltha (Maria Martin) and his half-breed daughter Geminis (Olga Omar) . Then , a Sheriff named Frank Garringo (Robert Woods) and his deputy González (Gaspar 'Indio' González) investigate the murder . Soon after , at the little town -where there are the usual shops and establishments as Hardware , Blacksmith , livery stable with leather goods , Funeral Parlor , and the Star Saloon licensed for gambling owned by Oswald- happen other killings .

This stirring tortilla Western packs thrills , shootouts , noisy action , some brief touches of humor with tongue-in-cheek and riding pursuits . Spanish production filmed in Catalunya , full of familiar faces , assaults , exaggerated characters , gun-down , lots of shots and fights . The film packs action , shootouts , drama , treason , high body-count and it's fast moving , being slightly entertaining and approaching increasingly the American as well as Spaghetti style , but keeping some details that make it special in this particular Paella genre and adding some ¨Giallo¨ elements . Starring Robert Woods as a tough sheriff who attempts to find out murders and vows revenge when his deputy is killed . Robert is passable , he ravages the screen , he jumps , leaps and bounds , hits and runs ; besides , receiving violent punches , whipping and wounds . Worthwhile watching for a demonstration of the confrontation between Robert Woods and Cris Huerta as the greedy saloon owner and his hired hands with some looks that say it all , including an exciting ending . Mediocre performances for the whole casting . "Four Candles for Garringo" or "My Colt, Not Yours" is regularly starred by Robert Woods . Robert starred several Tortilla/Ravioli Western as "Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace" , "Seven Guns for the MacGregors" , ¨Four Dollars for Vengeance" , ¨Black Jack¨, ¨El Puro¨, "Gatling Gun" , among others . Support cast is frankly acceptable , thanks to the appearance important secondaries from Spaghetti/Tortilla or Paella Western , these are the followings : Mariano Vidal Molina , Antonio Molino Rojo , Gaspar Indio Gonzalez , Cesar Ojinaga , Maria Martin and the comical relief by Luis Ciges as a sympathetic undertaker .

And being decently photographed by Antonio L. Ballesteros . Mostly filmed in atmospheric though poor scenarios on location in Fraga , (Huesca) , similar to Almeria , and a Western village located in ¨Spugles De Llobregat¨ built by Balcazar Productions . Atmospheric musical score by Enrique Escobar , Iquino's ordinary . The motion picture was lousily directed by prolific filmmaker Ignacio F Iquino , under pseudonym Steve McCoy . Iquino is considered to be one of the worst filmmakers of Spanish film history . He wrote , directed and produced lots of films by means of his production company : ¨I.F.I.¨ that financed lots of Westerns such as : ¨Oeste Nevada Joe¨ , ¨Ninguno De Los Tres Llamaba Trinidad¨, ¨La Diligencia De Condenados¨, ¨Fabulosos De Trinidad¨, ¨20 Pasos a Muerte¨ , ¨Dólar a Fuego¨, ¨Abre Tu Fosa Llega Sabata¨ , and ¨5 Pistolas De Texas¨ . Most of them starred by Richard Harrison , Jorge Martin or George Martin , Luis Davila , Daniel Martin or Robert Woods . Iquino was a Spanish craftsman , writing and directing ; working from the 40s in all kind of genres and B movies until the late 80s . However , he also directed acceptable films as ¨Historia De Una Escalera¨ based on Antonio Buero Vallejo's novel , ¨El Judas¨, ¨Angeles Al Volante¨, ¨Tambor Del Bruch¨ and ¨Brigada Criminal¨ at his best . Rating : 3.5/10 , a turkey film , being some moments briefly entertaining , though sometimes embarrassing . If you like Chorizo , Paella , Tortilla , Butifarra or Spaghetti westerns , this one remains a little watchable in the final action scenes .

Low-grade spagwest

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 13 February 2018]

FOUR CANDLES FOR MY COLT is a low-grade spaghetti western that was shot in Spain. As usual, the plot surrounds the hunt for some stolen gold, as thieves fall out and the body count rises as rivals strive to gain possession of the valuable shipment. Robert Woods plays the tough sheriff trying to clean up the town and present more killing, but he has the odds stacked against him. This is the kind of western that you watch and forget about quickly afterwards, because there's absolutely nothing here that hasn't been done to death previously. The characters are stock and cliched, the action scenes have been directed in the most routine way imaginable, and the plot is nothing special. It's only worth a watch if you're in an entirely forgiving mood.